Bay Ridge: Divine Eggplant Napolean at Tanoreen

Tanoreen is what I consider a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean hybrid restaurant.  It has a very wide selection of appetizers and entrees.  The fare is varied, from light vegetarian fare to heavy cuts of meat and savory seafood.  On our first trip to Tanoreen, T and I decided to start off with a couple of appetizers.

First, we started off with a little hummus. Tanoreen's hummus is very distinctive.  It has a strong lemony flavor and is creamy and delicious.  I highly recommend it.

Hummus ★★★★★

Second, we ordered the Eggplant Napolean, which gets rave reviews on Yelp.  And now I know why.  It is delicious!  The Eggplant Napolean is crispy breaded eggplant layered with baba ghanouge and served with hummus and a tomato basil salad.  The textures are perfect.  When you bite into it, the juicy eggplant bursts from its crispy shell and the creamy hummus in the middle mixes perfectly with the tomato basil salad and baba ghanouge.  This is one incredible dish, something that is a must-have everytime anyone goes to Tanoreen.

Eggplant Napolean ★★★★★

Now, on to the entrees.  T ordered the Grilled Combo, which is platter of grilled chicken, grilled lamb and lamb sausage.  The chicken was delicious, which a great lemony flavor.  The grilled lamb, however, was kind of gamey and the ground lamb had a very strong but unusual flavor that I could not quite pinpoint.  Overall, I didn't really enjoy this dish.

Grilled Combo ★★★☆☆

I ordered a dish called Leaves, which consisted of shredded chicken and a green leafy vegetable (I'm not sure which vegetable it was).  This dish was not very flavorful and I probably would not get it again.

Leaves ★★★☆☆

Lastly, we decided to order dessert because we heard so much about Tanoreen's Knafeh.  This did not disappoint.  In fact, it is one of the most unusually delicious desserts I have ever had.  The outside is a phyllo dough that has the texture of shredded wheat.  The dessert is served warm and the inside is filled with two types of sweet white cheeses that ooze out of the middle.  The cheese sort of has the consistency of mozzarella.  The whole thing is drizzled with rosewater syrup and topped with crumbled pistachios.  A truly outstanding dessert that you must try!

Knafeh ★★★★★

Overally, Tanoreen had really delicious appetizers and an exquisite dessert.  The entrees, however, did not impress.  Since the apps and dessert were so good though, we plan to come back and see if there are some entrees that would make a completely superb meal.